Automatic weighing mechanism.



Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

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APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1909.

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- W. DEATS. AUTOMATIC WEIGHING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED mm: 30,1909.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

W. DEATS. AUTOMATIC WEIGHING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30 1909Patented Jan.2, 1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

WILLIAM DEATS, F YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC PACKING ANDLABELING COMPANY, OF DURHAM, NOR-TH CAROLINA, CORPORATION OF NORTHCAROLINA.

AUTOMATIC WEIGI-IING MECHANISM.

Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

Application filed June 30, 1909. Serial No. 505,201}.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM Dnvrs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Yonkers, in the county of \"Vestchester and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticlVeighing Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention pertains to improvements in automatic weighingmechanism, the apparatus being particularly adapted for use inconjunction with packaging machines.

The invention will best be understood upon reference to the annexeddrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the weighing mechanism and aportion of the packaging mechanism; Fig. 2 a vertical sectional view, onan enlarged scale, of a portion of the weighing mechanism; Fig. 3 a topplan view thereof; Fig. 1 a side elevation of a portion of the weighingmechanism, the parts being broken away to more clearly illustrate theconstruction; Fig. 5 a vertical sectional view, taken on the line 5--5of Fig. at; Fig. 6 a horizontal. sectional view, on the line 66 of Fig.2, illustrating the gate which is employed to temporarily close the feedhoppers or chambers; Fig. 7 a perspective view of a portion of theoperative mechanism, the main feed roll and the dribble roll being shownin section; Fig. 8 a vertical sectional view, on the line 88 of Fig. 3,showing the pawl-carrier, pawl. and coacting ratchet and the releasingdevice therefor, which control the movements of the main or large feedroll; Fig. 9 a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 aperspective view of the actuating lever employed to release the pawlsfrom the ratohets; Fig. 11 a sectional perspective view of the frame orcasting in which the feed chambers are formed, and which also serves asa support for the scale-pans and the attendant parts; and Fig. 12 avertical sectional view taken through one of the feed hoppers orchambers, the line of section being indicated by the line 1212 in Fig.3.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficientmechanism which will automatically deliver to a bag or other container adefinite quantity of material to be packaged.

The apparatus may be said to consist of a series of scales, orscale-pans into which a stated amount of material is fed, the pans beingautomatically discharged in rotation. The material passes from the pansinto a receptacle common to all the pans, whence it is delivered to abag or other closure. The mechanism also includes a main feed roll, aconstantly-driven dribble roll, mechanism whereby rotation of the mainroll will be stopped when approximately the desired weight of materialis fed into a scalepan, and means whereby further discharge of thematerial from the feed hopper or chamber by the dribble roll will be cutoff when the exact amount has passed into the scale.

In the drawings, A denotes a stand or column, preferably supported uponthe bed of the packaging machine, said stand or column carrying a hopperor receptacle B which, as above noted, is coextensive with the variousscales or scale-pans which stand above the same. A sleeve or collar C issecured to the upper portion of the column A and a shaft D is mountedwithin the column and passes through and has its bearing in the hub E ofthe casting in which the feed chambers or hoppers are formed, and whichwill be hereinafter described in detail. Said hub is fast to the collarC and is therefore, held against rotation.

To the upper end of shaft D is secured the hub F of a wheel-likeactuating member, the lower edge or rim G of which is provided withgear-teeth forming in effect a toothed wheel H. Said rim is alsoprovided with two cams I and J, the former serving to release the pawlswhich have brought the main feed roll to a standstill and closed thegate or door beneath the feed hopper when the requisite amount ofmaterial has passed therethrough to the scale-pan below. The

second cam is designed to coact with a rod nect with thevertically-disposed walls M and N. The curvature of the lower portionsof the walls K is the same as that of the feed rolls which work adjacentthereto.

A shaft P is mounted in each of the feed chambers, the shaft at itsinner end being seated in a bearing formed in the hub E. Said shaftcarries a collar or sleeve Q loosely mounted thereon, the collarextending through an opening R formed in the vertical wall 0. Upon'said'shaft is mounted a pair of frusto-conical feed rolls S and T. RollS is the dribble roll and is made comparatively small, being secured tothe inner end of the shaft by a set-screw, or in any other suitablemanner. The outer end of the roll is reduced and passes into a socket orrecess formed in the adjacent end of the roll T, which is looselymounted upon the shaft P. A friction washer U is interposed between theadjacent faces of said rolls. The outer end of the roll T is providedwith a head or closure V which is splined or otherwise rigidly affixedto the sleeve Q. Said sleeve, as will be best seen upon reference toFigs. 8 and 9, is provided with a ratchet-wheel TV, with which coacts alook ing pawl X, fulcrumed upon the lower end of a pawl-carrier Y,loosely mounted upon and encircling the sleeve Q. A gear Z is secured toshaft P adjacent to the ratchetwheel said gear meshing with the gear Hof the actuating member, and'as said actuating member is constantlyrotated the shaft P will likewise have a constant mo tion imparted toit. A second ratchet-wheel a is secured upon shaft P, and a pawl 7)-mounted upon the short arm 0 of an elbowlever (Z, fulcrumed upon theshaft P, is adapted to coact with said ratchet-wheel and to lock theelbow-lever to the shaft and cause it to partake of the rotation of saidshaft for a stated period. The lower or long end 6 of said leverprojects into a slot or opening f in a swinging gate pivoted to theunder face of the upper ringshaped or annular member /L of the hoppercasing. The outer end of the shaft P is journaled in a bearing 2' formedupon the upper edge of the ring-shaped member 71 Said member h issecured to the member 0 by interposed webs 7'. Extending downwardly fromthe ring-shaped member h is a series of arms 76, the laterallyprojecting ends of the arms being provided with bearings Z which formthe supports for the knifeedge bearings m of the U-shaped scale-beam n.One of said beams is shown in detail in Fig. 7 and is provided at itsouter end with a threaded rod 0 upon which is adjustably mounted aweight 79. The yoke or beam has pivotally connected to it a scalepan q,provided with pivoted bottom plates 1*, a, normally held closed bysprings t and u. The bottom plates are connected to each other by arms 0and 10, one arm carrying a pin which works in a slot formed in the opposite arm.

A rod 50, mounted in vertically-disposed bearings formed in the web jbears upon a lever y fulcrumed between ears .2, formed at the lower endof the arm 7". The inner end of said lever projects over the pin carried by the arm 10, see Fig. 5. Normally the rod is maintained in itselevated position by a spring A, but is depressed by the cam J, whichacts upon a roller B carried by the upper end of rod m. This cam comesinto action and depresses the rod after the proper amount of materal hasbeen fed into the scalepan.

A red C, see Fig. 7, is pivotally connected at its lower end to thescale-beam or a stud extending outwardly therefrom, the upper end ofsaid rod being pivotally connected to the outer end of the pawl Z). Asecond rod D is connected to the outer end of the pawl X, the lower endof the rod being forked and normally resting upon a pin or stud Eextending outward from the beam. It is to be noted that the rod 1)stands at a greater distance from the knifeedge bearing or fulcrum m ofthe beam than does the connection of the rod C to the beam. The weightof the rod D is depended upon to draw the pawl X down when the beam istilted so that said pawl may be thrown into operative relation with thewheel 1V and thereby arrest the rotation of the sleeve Q, andconsequently stop the rotation of the large feed wheel T. The pawl bwill not, however, come into action at this time, so that the dribbleroll S may continue to feedmaterial slowly into the scale-pan. Upon afurther downward movement of the pan, by the addition of material fedthereto by the dribble roll S, the pawl Z) will come into action,locking the elbow-lever (Z to the shaft P and thereby causing said leverto swing in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 7, and as aconsequence move the gate 9 beneath the lower end of the feed hopper orchamber, hereby cutting off the further discharge of material from saidfeed chamber to the scale-pan. The parts are so timed that the cuts offthis supply at the exact moment required, so that each charge ofmaterial which passes into the scale-pan and thence to the maindischarge hopper B will be of equal. weight. As will be readilyappreciated, as soon as the cam J passes into contact with the roller Bon the rod 02, said rod will be depressed and the plates or doors 1", 5,opened against the action of the springs, and the weighted materialdischarged from the scale-pan.

In order to positively withdraw the pawls and to force the pawl-carrierY and the elbow-lever d back to their normal 'po sitions, I employ anactuating device of the form best shown in Fig. 10. It comprises an armor lever F secured to a shaft G fulcrumed upon an ear or bearing Hextending outwardly from the web j. Formed as an integral portion oflever F is a finger I, provided with a shoulder J, the reduced end of afinger K serving to release the pawl b when said finger is' throwndownwardly by the action of the cam I upon a roll L secured to 'theupper end of the arm F. The shoulder J contacts with the arm 0 of theelbow-lever cl, and consequently throws the same to the right, or in adirection opposite to the arrow in Fig. 7, thereby opening the gatewhich was momentarily closed beneath the hopper or feed chamber. Asecond finger, M, provided with a shoulder N and a reduced end 0, issecured upon the opposite end of the shaft G, said shoulder N andreduced portion 0 coacting, respectively, with the pawl-carrier Y andpawl X. A spring P (Fig. 4:) is secured to the arm F and to a fixedportion of the machine, said spring serving to draw the arm rearwardlyand to thereby raise the pawl-releasing finers.

g The cam I is designed to come into action immediately the material hasbeen discharged from the scale-pan and to again open the gate 6/, sothat the material may be again passed into the scale-pan. To assist inthe retraction of the gate a spring Q is secured to the arm 6 of theelbowlever and to the annular or ring-shaped member h.

The various parts are duplicated in each of the feed hoppers orchambers, there being eight of such hoppers in the construction hereinshown.

It will be understood, of course, that but a single pair of operatingcams I and J is carried by the actuating member G, and that they actsuccessively to close the various doors and discharge the scale-pansthroughout the series. The material from one of the pans will pass outof the main hopper or receptacle B before the next pan is discharged,the parts being so timed that but one weighed charge can pass into thehopper at a time.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In combinationwith a hopper or chamber; a constantlydriven dribble roll; a larger feedroll; yielding driving connections between said dribble roll and thelarger feed roll; a scale-pan located beneath the hopper; andconnections between said hopper and the larger feed roll for arrestingthe rotation of said roll when the scale-pan has received its proximatecharge.

2. In combination with a hopper or chamber; a constantly-driven dribbleroll mounted therein; a larger feed roll also mounted in said chamber;frictional driving connections between said rolls; a scale-pan locatedbeneath said hopper; a gate for closing the lower end of the hopper; andconnections intermediate said scale-pan and frictiondriven roll, andbetween the pan and the gate, whereby when the pan has received itsproximate charge the larger feed roll will be brought to a standstilland upon further and full descent of the pan the gate will be closed.

3. In combination with a hopper or chamher; a shaft mounted therein; adribble roll secured to the shaft; a second roll loosely mounted. uponthe shaft; frictional driving connections intermediate said rolls; ascalepan located beneath the hopper; a pivoted gate arranged to closethe lower end of the hopper; connections intermediate the scalepan andthe friction-driven roll for arresting the rotation of said roll whenthe pan has received its proximate charge; and connections intermediatesaid gate and the pan for swinging said gate to its closed position whenthe pan has received its full charge.

4. In combination with a hopper or chamher; a shaft mounted therein; adribble roll secured to the shaft and rotating therewith; a second rollloosely mounted upon the shaft; frictional driving connections betweensaid rolls; a gate mounted beneath the hopper; said gate standingnormally in an open position; a scale-pan; a locking device forpreventing the rotation of the second roll; said device being normallyheld out of operation when the scale-pan is ele vated; an actuatingdevice for closing and opening the gate, said device being controlled bythe descent of the pan; means for discharging the material from the pan;and means for releasing the locking device and the gate-actuatingdevice, said means coming into operation after the pan has beendischarged.

5. In combination with a feed hopper or chamber; a shaft mountedtherein, a dribble roll secured to and rotatable with the shaft; a largefeed roll loosely mounted on the shaft; frictional driving connectionsbetween said rolls; a ratchet secured to and rotatable with said largerfeed roll; a pawlcarrier; a pawl pivoted upon said carrier andcooperating with the ratchet; a second ratchet secured upon the shaft;an elbowlever loosely fulcrumed upon the shaft; a pawl. fulcrumed uponsaid elbow-lever and normally standing in line with the ratchet securedupon the shaft; a gate pivotally mounted beneath the hopper; ascale-beam also fulcrumed beneath the hopper; means interposed betweensaid beam and the firstmentioned pawl for normally holding the same outof action so long as the beam remains in its elevated position;connections between said beam and the second pawl for throwing the pawlinto engagement with its ratchet when the beam approaches the .limii ofits downward movement; and means for releasing said pawls and returningthe parts to their normal positions when the contents of the pan carriedby the beam has been discharged.

6. In combination with a feed hopper or chamber; a shaftmounted therein;a dribble roll secured to the shaft and rotatable therewith; a feed rollloosely mounted upon the shaft; frictional driving connections betweensaid rolls; a sleeve secured to the feed roll and encircling the shaft;a ratchet carried by the sleeve; a pawl-carrier swiveled upon saidsleeve; a pawl pivotally mounted upon said pawl-carrier and in line withits ratchet; a second ratchet secured to the shaft; an elbow-leverloosely mounted upon the shaft; a pawl fulcrumed upon the short arm ofsaid lever; a gate pivoted beneath the hopper, said gate being providedwith a slot into which the long arm of the elbowlever extends; a scalebeam fulcrumed at a point below the hopper; a rod pivoted to the firstpawl and normally held in an elevated position by the scale-beam so longas the beam remains in its elevated position; a rod pivotally secured tothe beam at one end and at its opposite end to the second pawl; meansfor discharging material from the pan carried by the beam; and means forreleasing the pawls and throwing the pawl carrier and the elbow-leverback to their normal positions.

7. In a weighing mechanism the combination of a frame or castingprovided with a series of feed hoppers or chambers, a scalepan mountedbeneath each of said hoppers; feed rolls mounted in each of saidhoppers; an actuating device common to all of said feed rolls; a gatepivoted beneath each of said. hoppers; connections between saidscale-pans and gates, whereby the gates will be closed when the pansnear their limit of downward movement; connections controlled by thedescent of the pans for arresting the operation of the feed rolls;devices for discharging the pans; devices for openmg the gates andrestoring the rolls to their operative positions; and means carried bythe actuating member for operating the discharge devices and releasingthe devices for closing the gates and arresting the feed rolls.

8. In a weighing machine, the combination of a frame or casting providedwith a plurality of feed hoppers or chambers; a

shaft mounted in each of said hoppers; a

gear carried by each of said shafts; an actuating member mounted abovesaid gears and meshing therewith; a fixed feed roll mounted upon eachshaft; a frictionally-driven feed roll also mounted 011 each of saidshafts; a scale-pan located beneath each of said hoppers; a gate foreach hopper; a rod serving to open each of said pans; connectionsintermediate the pans and frictionallydriven feed rolls for arrestingthe motion of said rolls; connections intermediate said pans and thegates for opening and closing the same; positioning devices for'theconnections aforesaid; and cams carried by the actuating member, one ofsaid cams serving to operate the rods while the second cam operates thepositioning devices.

9. in combination with a receptacle; a series of hoppers located abovethe same; a scale-pan situated beneath each hopper; a feeding mechanismlocated in each hopper; and means common to all the feeding mechanismsand the scale-pans for actuating the feeding mechanisms and successivelydischarging the scale-pans into the receptacle.

10. In combination with a central sup porting member; a frame or castingsus tained thereby said frame being provided with a series ofradially-disposed, outwardlyflaring hoppers; a conical feeding rolllocated in each hopper; a scale-pan situatedbeneath each hopper; andmeans common to all the feeding rolls and the scalepans for actuatingthe feeding rolls and successively discharging the scale-pans.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

VVILLIALWI DEATS. W'itnesses R. L. PATTERSON; H. A. DODGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

